PW Editor Jim Milliot to Receive BISG's Lifetime Service Award

Since 2013, the Book Industry Study Group has honored members of the book publishing community with an annual award, now called the Sally Dedecker Award for Lifetime Service, that recognizes the tireless and persistent efforts, often unseen, of an individual working on behalf of the book industry. This year, the BISG Board is recognizing Jim Milliot, editorial director of the industry trade publication Publishers Weekly, for his service to the industry.

Recent honorees have included Joe Gonnella, formerly with Barnes & Noble; Maureen McMahon, Kaplan Publishing; the late David Cully, Baker & Taylor; Mike Shatzkin, Idea Logical Company; and Michael Bamberger, Dentons. This year, the BISG board honors Jim's decades-long commitment to reporting on the book industry, both in its best moments and many of its most challenging. His leadership at Publishers Weekly has helped inform the industry at a time of continued change in the size, shape, and competitive nature of the business.

On learning of the honor, Jim noted, "I am happy to accept this award on behalf of all my colleagues, past and present, at Publishers Weekly. We have always done our best to provide the information the industry needs to make informed decisions and it is truly appreciated that those efforts have not gone unnoticed."

Jim joined Publishers Weekly in April 1993 when then-publisher Fred Ciporen invited him to lunch. At the end of the day, editor-in-chief Nora Rawlinson offered him the job of business editor. Prior to joining the magazine, Jim had served as executive editor of Simba Information, where he wrote the BP Report (“On the Business of Publishing”) newsletter and edited the Educational Marketer and IDP Report newsletters.

Not long after joining Publishers Weekly, Jim was appointed News editor. Jim was involved with writing and editing several online newsletters that eventually, under editor-in-chief Sara Nelson, became PW Daily. Jim launched or helped launch many innovative regular features for the print magazine, including “fast-growing indie publishers” and the Publishers Weekly annual salary surveys.

At the magazine, Jim also oversees coverage for Person of the Year, Bookstore and Rep of the Year, and Star Watch programs. In 2010, when George Slowik took ownership of Publishers Weekly, Jim was named, along with Michael Coffey, co-editorial director. He has served as vice president and sole editorial director since Coffey stepped down in 2014.

Publishers Weekly maintains a print edition with some 20,000 subscribers, publishes nine e-newsletters with about 172,000 subscribers, offers a website that draws over 1 million users and almost 2 million monthly page views. The franchise boasts some 1,262,000 social media followers.

Jim has been involved with BISG in various ways, starting with the organization's Statistics committee, formed under Sandy Paul, BISG's first executive director. Jim wrote the commentary for a number of BISG Trends reports, including several published under the leadership of Jeff Abramson and Angela Bole.

Working with Bowker, Jim edited several editions of “U.S. Demographics & Buying Behaviors Book Consumer Annual Review,” which analyzed buying trends in the early e-book days. Jim also was a regular contributor to the “Veronis Suhler Communications Forecast” and “The Library and Book Trade Almanac.” From 2014 to 2018, Jim served on the board of directors of the Independent Book Publishers Association.

The award will be presented as part of a lunchtime program at the BISG annual meeting, which will take place at the Harvard Club of New York on April 28. Registration is now open.